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Transgender man can be breastfeeding coach

In 2012, a transgender Winnipeg man named Trevor MacDonald inquired about applying as a coach with La Leche League Canada, an arm of the influential international breastfeeding support group. MacDonald’s local chapter had been vital as he learned to nurse his newborn son and he wanted to give back.

La Leche League International now acknowledges that men can breastfeed. The change to its leadership requirements was sparked by a complaint by transgender Winnipeg dad Trevor MacDonald. (HANDOUT PHOTO)

But the organization’s response surprised the stay-at-home dad. Adhering to decades-old policy, LLLC informed MacDonald only mothers could serve as coaches, and a mother was strictly defined as a woman. “Since an LLLC leader is a mother who breastfed a baby, a man cannot become an LLLC leader,” MacDonald was told. His query was tossed, and his application for a leadership role preemptively denied.

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MacDonald, who began transitioning from a woman to a man in 2008 but quit testosterone treatment when he became pregnant in July 2010, went public with the rejection on his blog, then in an interview with the Star. It stirred outrage inside the LGBTQ community and among breastfeeding advocates, who argued LLLC’s rigid guidelines were patently discriminatory and failed to reflect a shifting understanding of what defines motherhood in the 21st century.

Last month, after more than a year of internal review, La Leche League International quietly expunged the gendered language from its leadership requirements and now acknowledges that men can, in fact, breastfeed. The Canadian branch has followed suit.

“It was thought that only women could breastfeed. Once it became clear it wasn’t as straightforward as that, the policy had to change,” said Diana West, a spokesperson for the international body, which had never encountered a case like MacDonald’s in its 58-year history.

“We’re just trying to be on the right side of history. Yes, we took a year to do it, but we did it in a way that was fair and unequivocal.”

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MacDonald, of course, is thrilled by the turnaround. “It’s really great,” the 28-year-old said. “It doesn’t only open up opportunities to who can volunteer, but it sends a really clear message that La Leche League wants to support all kinds of families, and anyone who wants to breastfeed.”

In Canada, the decision brings La Leche League policy into line with federal human rights codes as well as its own mandate to be a “nondiscriminatory service organization.” “Unfortunately it’s taken a while, but they’re there,” said Elisabeth Sterken, national director of Infant Feeding Action Coalition Canada, another advocacy group.

La Leche League International doesn’t keep track of how many transgender parents it counts as members, but the new leadership criteria fits a growing trend among parenting groups and fertility care providers to eschew gendered terms, like “mother” and “father,” “men” and “women,” when dealing with clients. “It’s not La Leche League doing it on their own. They’re recognizing a shift in the broader culture,” said Andy Inkster, a health promoter at Toronto’s LGBTQ Parenting Network.

While MacDonald was disappointed with La Leche League Canada’s initial reaction, he never thought to cut ties. Last year the organization asked him to write a tip sheet for coaches with transgender parents in its support groups, which it implemented in the fall.

But even with the policy update, there is work ahead. La Leche League continues to define itself as a “mother-to-mother support” group, and the word “mother” appears in most, if not all, of its publications. “This one change affects a lot of language they use all over the place,” MacDonald said. “I still think there are a lot of updates they can make.”

MacDonald, who is expecting a second child in October, still nurses his three-year-old son — he’s able to lactate and breastfeds using a supplemental nursing system — and continues to attend group meetings, which help parents navigate everything from weaning to the awkwardness of public breastfeeding.

La Leche League parents — regardless of gender — can volunteer as coaches after nine months of breastfeeding experience. MacDonald, however, coyly declined to reveal whether he would apply for a position, now that he is permitted.

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